Apparatus for drying eggs



Aug. l0 1926.

u. s. HARK'soN APPARATUS FOR DRIING EGGS 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 17

Aug. 10 1926. 1,595,778

U. S. HARKSON APPARATUS FOR DRYING EGGS F'iled Sept. 17, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 10,

UNITED STATES ULYssEs SEVERIN HAnxsoN, or ron'rnniin, onEcoN.

.APIPARATUS FOB '.DIB'IYIZN'G- EGGS.

Application l'ed September This invention relates to a method and a paratus for drying material, particulary eg products. Y

n object of the invention is to shorten the time .required to dry such products, thus lessening the cost of manufacture.'

Another object concerns the provision of means and a method whereby the resultant product will be more soluble than those produced by other methods, particularly such products asalbumen and whole"egg.. i A further object concerns the provision of means and a method' whereby the yresultant-product does not'lose itsv whipping-up power- The' invention is illustrated in the draw.- lin is, of whichigure l is a side elevation of the apparatus;

Fi 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig.,1; and' Fig. 3 is a cross sectien taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

The form of the inventionshown in the drawings is a preferredvform, although it is understood that .modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts'and p in the character of the materials used may be adopted without departing from the spirit of the invention as set-'forth in the` appended claim.

ln itsgeneral aspect the invention comprises disposing a plurality of trays containing the egg product, preferably in liquid form, in a trough lled with' circulating water of -a predetermined temperature so that the trays-*will be'placed in water so that the water will comedirectly inoontact with the bottom of the tray'. A plurality ofl 40 these-troughs are arranged in avertical series to form a cell, and any number of cells can 1'7, 1925. Serial No. 57,043.

trough and passes outiinto a common discharge pipe, flowing back into the tank, where the waten'is maintained at any de` sired temperature by any suitable means.

The apparatus employed is as follows:

'The tank 10 is lled with water'by means of a pipe. 11. The water -overflows through the pipe 12. The water is heated preferably by means of steam jets `through the pipe 13. l The water is passed from the tank 10 through'pipe 14 by means of a pump .15 feeding it into apipe 16. This pipe 16 extends downward along the side of acell or metal frame. 17 and at different levels therein is provided with valves such as 18 so that the UW/aten passingl from the pipe 4 16 at ldifferent levels can be regulated as to the quantity of its iow., A

Preferably a thermometer 19 is disposed in the pip'e 16 near the bottom 15 so that the water can be kept at any predetermined temperature, especlally at. a temperature determined with reference to the coagulation temperature of the" material being dried. lVithv reference to Figs. 2 and 3,

18. A short auxiliary pipe 20 extends from the pipe 16 at each level into'a troughy21. This trough is ofany suitable design and .the pipe/16 is shown with oneof the valves has at one end a spillway or plate '22 so thatL as the water-Hows into attain a desired level before it spills over the plate 22 into the main trough where it will'pass out through an auxiliary pipe 28 into the main discharge pipe 24 which extends vertically along the. opposite side of the cell.

Preferably the cellis formed of a series of angle plates such as 25 (see Fi 2)., which can be built up to any height an support an ,desired number o troughs. l

be connectedup with the circulating' sys- Within each trough are disposed a pluraltem. By maintainln the water at the ,deans 26. These pans are sired temperature wit 'respect-to the coagu- 45 lation point of the egg liquid the heat trans- ,fer will take place from liquid tolliquid and will be effected in about one-third the 'time which would be required if the heatitransfer were from gas to liquid, as in thecase 50 of drying or desiccating bymeans of hot air. Preferably the water isintroduced into one end of each trough simultaneously withf its introductoninto the'cqrresponding ends of the other troughs., The water then fillsn 55 each trough until the desired level is reached,

whereupon it spills oyer the end ofthe il? of trays or apted to contain the egg product orany other product which is to be dried. The egg products are preferably in liquid form and thepans preferably iioat on the hot water contained within each'trough.

It will be observed that by controlling the discharge rate o the pump 15 and ^the degree of opening o ,each of the valves '18 the amountnof water circulating' through the .various troughs can be selectively controlled, and that by observing/thethermometer -19 'and varying the amount 'of steam supplied to .the tank 10 through the pipe rthe trough it will los lio

13, the temperature of the circulating Water can be kept at a desired point.

In accordance with this method and by the use of this apparatus it is found, therefore, that the time required to dry al product- Such as egg liquid is reduced byI substantiall thirty per cent, and that the quality of the resultant product is much superior, especially with regard to its capacity to Whip up. Furthermore, the conditions under- Which the Workmen can operate the device are more sanitary and healthful because of the temperature of the room, which is not required to be maintained at the usual temperatures required in the use of 'an airoperat-ing method, viz., in the neighborhood of 140O F. In this apparatus the Water is maintained at the desired temperature but the room temperature need only be normal. It is found that these particular benefits are substantially entirely resultant from the method of transferring the heat from a liquid, such as hot water, to the liquid product, Whereas in previous methods which do not have these advantages, the heat transfer has been effected from gas, such as hot air, to the liquid product to be dried.

at I claim is: Apparatus for drying liquid products such as egg liquid, which comprises a plurality of troughs disposed one above each other on a frame, means for simultaneously circulating Water in said troughs, means for controlling the How of liquid into each trough, a common discharge means for the water fiowing from each trough, means for circulating the water through said supply and dischargev means, means for controlling the temperature of said Water, and a plurality of pans in each trough, said pans being partially immersed in the liquid, said pans adapted to contain egg liquid, whereby the transfer of heat is direct from liquid to liquid.

ULYSSES SEVERIN HARKSON. 

